ABOUT

With the Darfur Peace Agreement in shambles and fears rising that the region is headed for a new cycle of bloodletting, Darfur: Between the Lines provides an eyewitness account of what the U.N. Secretary-General has called “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.” The film captures the desperation of daily life in Al Fasher’s sprawling Abu Shouk refugee camp and travels beyond Al Fasher into the volatile rebel-held areas of Sudan to portray the lives of black African villagers who get up every morning to face yet another day filled with threats of looting, murder and rape by Sudan’s pro-government Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed. Our cameras follow “the busiest man in Africa” – charismatic General Martin Luther Agwai, commander of the new combined U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force for Darfur – on a mission as he helicopters into hostile areas attempting to coax rebel leaders and some of the Arab tribes into joining the negotiating table. Despite leading the world’s largest peacekeeping operation, Agwai, the former head of Nigeria’s armed forces, acknowledges the limitations of his role: “We are not here to compel any peace. We are here to work with the Sudanese people – both the government and the parties – to assist them to find peace.”  Darfur: Between the Lines provides a nuanced report from the heart of an international crisis.

COMMISSION AND CREW

1 x 50 mins for WNET/BBCWW  Producer: Sally Thomas

TRANSMISSION AND AVAILABILITY

‘Heart of Darfur’ was transmitted on WNET Sept 2008.

Watch the programme here